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Presentations as storytelling

Nancy Duarte is the owner of an award-winning presentation design firm. She is also the author of the book Resonate, which incorporates insights from literature and cinema to show how you can incorporate storytelling principles into a presentation. One central idea is that great talks move back and forth between telling what is and what could be. Duarte’s message is aimed at business presenters, but it can easily be applied to classroom presentations. See what you think.

John Knox, an award-winning atmospheric scientist at the University of Georgia, also thinks storytelling is a good idea. Knox has written about his experiences weaving stories into lectures, citing research that indicates use of stories helps students better understand and remember the material. Have you ever tried to incorporate stories into class presentations? How did it go?

More: If you want to see more from Nancy Duarte, then try her TED talk, The secret structure of great talks. It includes including a fascinating analysis of Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech.